Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong
Samuel Biagetti, PhD
So much of what we learn in a standard history class, and in the culture around us, are just cliff-note narratives, crafted to explain how things appear, rather than how things actually came to be. Peel back the layers of time and place with this thoroughly researched, college-level history podcast with over 200 episodes that uncover the forgotten forces that shaped – and that are still shaping – our world today.
There are no commercials in this long-form podcast. More information can be found at Historiansplaining.com, where you can hear Quick Samples of every episode, easily find related episodes based on topic, discover episodes by geographic location on a map of the world or on a timeline of world history, and much more.
There’s so much to explore with Samuel Biagetti, PhD, in these conversational lectures and interviews, each one presenting hidden landscapes from the past that put the moments and movements of today’s world in a tangible, thought-provoking light.
Press play for the joy of a great college-level course in history, without any of the homework!
Unlock the most content by becoming a supporter through Patreon. You choose the amount you want to contribute, and your support helps keep the podcast commercial free! Visit patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Support through Patreon from listeners like you is the only source of ongoing funding for this podcast.
There are no commercials in this long-form podcast. More information can be found at Historiansplaining.com, where you can hear Quick Samples of every episode, easily find related episodes based on topic, discover episodes by geographic location on a map of the world or on a timeline of world history, and much more.
There’s so much to explore with Samuel Biagetti, PhD, in these conversational lectures and interviews, each one presenting hidden landscapes from the past that put the moments and movements of today’s world in a tangible, thought-provoking light.
Press play for the joy of a great college-level course in history, without any of the homework!
Unlock the most content by becoming a supporter through Patreon. You choose the amount you want to contribute, and your support helps keep the podcast commercial free! Visit patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Support through Patreon from listeners like you is the only source of ongoing funding for this podcast.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 29, 2022 • 1h 16min
James II & the "Glorious Revolution"
James II was Britain's shortest-reigning monarch of the entire early modern age -- yet his brief rule caused a dramatic rupture, which in turn opened the door to the transformation of the kingdom into the constitutional, commercial, imperial state that we know as modern Britain. Was it because of his Catholic faith? His resolute -- or pig-headed -- personality? His determination to rule absolutely, like his ally Louis XIV? Or, as some have argued, was James too far ahead of his time in his belief in freedom of conscience?
We consider the complex life and personality of the ill-fated king, as well as the class conflicts and ideological shifts that let to the so-called "Glorious Revolution" and the beginnings of the modern state.
Please sign up as a patron to hear patron-only lectures, including the previous installment of "Doorways in Time" on The Library of Ashurbanipal: www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Oct 17, 2022 • 1h 27min
Doorways in Time: The Great Archaeological Finds -- 5: Gobekli Tepe
We examine the so-called "zero point of history," the "first temple," the "world's oldest building," the massive and deeply ancient complex of stone-age megalithic monuments on a hilltop in Turkey, which since being uncovered in the 1990s, has dramatically overturned received ideas about the beginnings of civilization.
Correction: France & Britain allied with the Ottomans against Russia in the Crimean War of the 1850s; in other conflicts France & Britain sought territorial and diplomatic gains at the expense of the Ottomans.
Please sign up as a patron to hear patron-only lectures, including the previous installment of "Doorways in Time" on The Library of Ashurbanipal: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Sep 29, 2022 • 2h 3min
Fortresses on Sand: The History of Florida -- pt. 6
In the final lecture on Florida, we examine how the tropical state, thanks to innovations like DDT, orange-juice concentrate, and air conditioning, was able to boom at an unimaginable pace, rocketing into the top five biggest states in the union, with massive scientific and artistic communities, a diverse immigrant mosaic, and after the Civil Rights movement, exceptionally volatile and unpredictable politics. We consider the importance of the last great expression of Florida utopianism -- namely, Disney World -- and the shift into a perceived playground of anarchy and American dreams gone mad, as personified in the notorious "Florida Man."
Rolling Stone article outline ways to help Florida, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico following Hurricane Ian: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/hurricane-ian-victims-help-donate-florida-puerto-rico-cuba-dominican-republic-1234601215/
Suggested further reading: Gannon, "Florida: A Short History"; Nolan, "Fifty Feet in Paradise: The Booming of Florida."
Please sign up as a patron at any level in order to hear patron-only materials, including the latest "Myth of the Month" on Conspiracy Theories -- https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Sep 16, 2022 • 1h 13min
Latin America Inverts the World Map: A Conversation With Margarita Fajardo
Sam interviews historian Margarita Fajardo, a professor of history at Sarah Lawrence College, about her new book, “The World That Latin America Created,” which traces how a movement of scholars and statesmen centering around CEPAL, a UN economic commission based in Santiago, Chile, formulated a new world-view and far-reaching agenda to foster unity and development in Latin America; the so-called “Capalinos” rose to dominance and set the policy agenda in Brazil and other countries in the 1950s and ‘60s and then set the stage for dependency theory, which took the world by storm in the 1970s. We also discuss how the travails of the Cepalinos might shed light on the transformations currently happening in Chile, Colombia, and other Latin American nations and the horizons that they might open up.
Margarita’s book opening will be at:
Location: Recirculation (a branch of Wordup Community Bookshop), 876 Riverside Drive, New York, NY
Time: Saturday Sept. 24th, starting at 11am.
Please support this podcast to hear patron-only materials, including the recent lecture on Conspiracy Theories: www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Aug 30, 2022 • 1h 23min
China, pt. 2 -- Water and Music: Early Chinese Philosophy
We consider how the crisis of legitimacy and breakdown of order following the downfall of the Zhou dynasty spurred on a flowering of philosophy, as various scholars and sages sought new principles to guide life and achieve harmony, giving rise to the enduring teachings of Taoism and Confucianism, as well as other long-forgotten sects ranging from draconian legalists to humanitarian pacifists.
Hear the first lecture on China here: https://soundcloud.com/historiansplaining/china-pt-1-making-the-middle-kingdom
Image: Song-era painting of a landscape with three men laughing, symbolizing Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism.
Please support this podcast to hear patron-only materials, including the recent lecture on Conspiracy Theories: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
8 snips
Aug 14, 2022 • 15min
Teaser -- Myth of the Month 20: Conspiracy Theories
A brisk dive into why conspiracy theories arise and who tends to believe them. A historical case from 1320 France shows how panic, scapegoating, and symbolism turned outsiders into imagined villains. The conversation traces recurring themes—poisoning fears, projection, and social crisis—and links medieval panics to modern targets like vaccines and 5G.
Aug 1, 2022 • 1h 36min
Unlocked: Doorways in Time, 2 -- Nag Hammadi Library and the Gnostic Gospels
Unlocked after one year for patrons only:
The secretive Gnostic stream of Christianity, which taught a radically different metaphysics and spiritual cosmology from "orthodox" doctrine in the first four hundred years of the church, was largely lost to history, until 1945, when a camel-herder in a remote part of Egypt stumbled upon an old ceremic jar with 13 massive books containing 52 ancient Gnostic texts. We consider what the so-called "Nag Hammadi LIbrary," which may have been hidden in the desert to protect it from destruction, reveals about the origins and importance of the Gnostics' secret teachings.
Image: A Nag Hammadi codex open to the beginning of the Apocryphon of John.
Suggested further reading: Jean Doresse, "The Discovery of the Nag Hammadi Texts"; Elaine Pagels, "The Gnostic Gospels."
Please sign up as a patron to hear all patron-only lectures: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Jul 29, 2022 • 2h 51min
Fortresses on Sand: The History of Florida -- pt. 5
We follow the southward-racing juggernaut of modern Florida, from statehood in 1845 to the 1930s – the insatiable quest of visionaries and megalomaniacs, from Jewish utopians, to slave-driving planters, to evangelical missionaries, to black politicians, to hotel magnates, to messianic cult leaders, to women’s suffragists, to Cuban revolutionaries, to bohemian poets, to impose a sense of order upon the chaotic and unruly wilderness of tropical Florida. Though ignored in our national mythology and dismissed as a southern backwater, the state was the site of the first confrontation of the Civil War, and of the longest-lasting and most aggressive Reconstruction regime, which created the first universal public school system in the South and fostered the first booming tourist economy in America, spearheaded by none other than Harriet Beecher Stowe. We conclude our journey through Florida with an examination of Florida literature, ending with an analysis of Wallace Stevens’ ode to Florida, “The Idea of Order at Key West.”
Suggested Further Reading: Foster & Foster, “Beechers, Stowes, and Yankee Strangers: The Transformation of Florida”; J. T. Kirby, “Mockingbird Song: Ecological Landscapes of the South.”
Please sign up as a patron to hear the next Myth of the Month – www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Jul 14, 2022 • 1h 31min
China, pt. 1 -- Making the Middle Kingdom
We follow the long struggle to build power, wealth, and lasting harmony on the rich but harsh and unforgiving landscape of China – from early farming villages, to the quasi-legendary early emperors, through dynasties obsessed with ritual and divination, the age of fragmentation and warring states, and finally, the dramatic quest for unification by the ruthless emperor that gave China its name. We learn the causes and contexts for the creation of the first Great Wall, the invention of wet rice farming and hydraulic engineering, the composition of ancient classics like the I Ching and the Art of War, and the appearance of the powerful philosophies of Confucianism and Taoism.
Hear my next lecture on China here: https://soundcloud.com/historiansplaining/china-pt-2-water-and-music-early-chinese-philosophy
Suggested further reading: Li Feng, “Early China”; Yap & Cotterell, “The Early Civilization of China”
Image: Bronze ceremonial vessel from Zhou dynasty
Please sign up as a patron to hear the next Myth of the Month -- https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Jun 20, 2022 • 31min
History of the United States in 100 Objects -- 19: Three Silver Higa Amulets, mid-1700s
--Three pendant amulets, in form of a forearm with closed fist
--made of silver;
---about ½ inch to 2/3 inches long
--found in midden at site of Spanish outpost, Los Adaes, in present-day Louisiana
--dated to 18th century
These three silver amulets in the form of a fist, found among the remains of the Spanish colonial fortress of Los Adaes in modern-day Louisiana, were intended to protect women and infants against the evil eye during childbirth. They reflect the fear, conflict, and struggle over control of sex and reproduction, as well as good and evil magic, at a remote colonial outpost.
Please support to hear all patron-only lectures, including the previous installment of "100 Objects" -- https://www.patreon.com/posts/61475405
For non-patrons, to hear all installments in this series on the history of the United States in 100 objects, you can purchase access through a single small payment: https://www.patreon.com/collection/2070759?view=condensed
Link to Twitter Space discussion for listeners and supporters, on July 2nd: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1ypKdEwVRWgGW?s=20
